The president of the local teachers union said using student test scores in teacher evaluations won’t change what happens in the Kenosha Unified School District much.

Mary Modder, Kenosha Education Association leader, said evaluations in the district already have a variety of assessments aimed at improving teacher skills.

“There’s a number of factors that make a teacher successful, and a test given on a certain day isn’t one,” she said.

The Legislature earlier this month approved a bill lifting a ban on using test results in teacher evaluations, one of several actions needed for Wisconsin to compete for $4.35 billion in federal Race to the Top grants.

That program aims to boost student achievement, improve minority students’ performance and raise graduation rates. The governor signed the bill on Monday.

Wisconsin has the potential to receive up to $250 million if it is among about a dozen states considered for a Race to the Top grant, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday.

However, Republican critics said removing the ban should have included a provision to discipline or fire teachers based on test scores.

Modder said that besides multiple bases needed to evaluate, disciplining teachers would chase them away from classes with special education and at-risk children who have difficulties not considered in testing.

Evaluation criteria

She said the bill passed by the Legislature requires a school board, if it wants to use scores, to establish:

— An evaluation plan with a description of the process.

— More than one evaluation criteria.

— The reason for using the results.

— Details on how evaluation would be used to improve pupil achievement.

The Unified School Board also would have to negotiate with the KEA on the evaluation process, she said.

The KEA/Unified teacher contract approved last week includes new language indicating the union would be willing to negotiate a process that would be used for improvements and not punishment, Modder said.

Legislators split

Rep. Thomas Lothian, R-Williams Bay, a former teacher, voted against lifting the ban, saying more than one test needs to be used for an appropriate evaluation.

“One class could have inquisitive, bright students and others might be slow learners or discipline problems, and test scores would go down through no fault of the teacher,” he said.

However, he said, a merit pay system should be adopted and, once a series of proper evaluation factors and standards are identified, teachers should be subject to discipline based on whether they reach the standards.

Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R- Genoa City, also voted no, saying that while it’s not money the state should turn away, she and others would’ve liked to have passed legislation that was in line with federal guidelines, which were not necessarily set at the time of the vote. Like Lothian, she is also in favor of a merit pay system.

Rep. John Steinbrink, D-Pleasant Prairie, supported overturning the ban because he said it would improve education as well as allow more federal money to come Wisconsin’s way.

He didn’t support linking scores to discipline because teachers must deal with realities outside the classroom and beyond their control.

“You don’t want to punish teachers or students for something they can’t overcome,” he said. “It’s not always the teacher’s fault.

State Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said he voted in favor of lifting the ban because it would help the state qualify for “hundreds of millions dollars” for education.

“We needed to take this step in order to qualify,” Barca said.